Re-seeded my lawn today

youngster

I had the picture perfect backyard for the past 4 years I have owned my house. Then my wife decided she wanted a dog. So I bought her one last summer, a Rhodesian Ridgeback named Morgan. Great dog BTW. So, in the fall, I got a little lazy. Before work I would just let him out to piss at 5am in the backyard instead of walking him. Over the next few weeks I noticed the dead spots forming. Then she would let him out during the day to shit and not pick it up. It got to the point in the fall we were raking leaves and turds. NOT COOL!!!! :evil: Nevermind the fact when he's out there he pretends he's Seabiscuit running the Kentucky Derby just tearing up clumps of grass. So FF to now. Spring. The dog is not allowed in the backyard anymore. I raked and aerated the lawn today, laid the grass seed down and watered it. Now I am determined to have my lawn look like Fenway's outfield by Memorial Day. Morgan is only allowed at the local park to run his little heart out and he poops in the neighbors yard from now on. I'm not putting up with his shit (no pun intended) in my yard anymore.

CHANGEinWAVES

good for you!!! I wish I was able to have the ability to do this and succeed.
I was lucky if I watered my lawn or had enough gas in the mower to cut the whole thing... then enough gas in the car to go get gas for the mower :P

DinghyDog

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justam

I might want a small dog when the kids are grown but I am put off a bit by the idea of picking up an animal's poop.

I hope your lawn grows in as you'd like it.

Steve Dunne

Fenway Park you say???? I have a lined football field.

I have a large, flat unobstructed front lawn that's 2.5 years old. When it first came up, it was awesome. Neighbors would stop in front of my new home and marvel at the lawn. They would curse me out it was so green. And I took care of it. Then...

I started throwing down the fertilizer. Back and forth I went. Every 3-4 months I'd do my thing. And every damn time, I'd end up with what looked like burned lines on my grass. Every few feet or so. Looked like a football field. Even last winter the same curse took hold of my lawn, and even as the snow melted from the winter, those damn lines are there to remind me to get a different spreader. Ugh!

decides2dream

hahahaha....awesome.

our old dog we had trained to go to a certain spot on the side of our garage, completely out of view of the yard, and totally paved. it was so easy. when she died :( we got another mutt, trained her to do the same thing. beautiful. we decided to get another dog as a companion.....and that dog would NOT go there, period. (later realized it's all territory s'cent' issues) so rather than have her go in the house we let her go wherever she wanted. first dog is gone, still had the second dog....decided to get another dog. needless to say, igby goes wherever he wants too. we do have them trained to not go in the garden beds, overall....and while they do tear ass around the yard, our lawn is fine. i find the biggest assistance to our lawn still looking really good even tho the dogs use it as a toilet: inground sprinklers. the lawn gets a 45 minute sprinkling, consistently, every other day during the height of summer. no brown spots, no dead lawn, just green beautiful grass. we are far too lazy to walk our dogs consistently, and definitely not driving em to a dog park.....this is why we have a backyard! so 2 dogs and a beautiful lawn and garden can coexist, happily.....just a wee bit of effort.

Sian-of-the-dead

Aren't Rhodesian Ridgebacks f'in' HUGE?!

imagine raking up those turds... :shock:

Good for you though dude! I'm an avid gardener and I even dread birds or slugs picking at my veg! Keep up with the lawn treatments and standing your ground and hopefully it'll look lush soon enough!

Lizard

Our Husky (no longer have) tore up our yard too. Whenever I get another dog--I am leaning towards a smaller one too. I like those Corgis--they are so cute!! or an australian cattle dog. or a miniature pinscher!!!
(Probably whatever the pound has!)

youngster

Sian-of-the-dead wrote:

Aren't Rhodesian Ridgebacks f'in' HUGE?!

imagine raking up those turds... :shock:

Good for you though dude! I'm an avid gardener and I even dread birds or slugs picking at my veg! Keep up with the lawn treatments and standing your ground and hopefully it'll look lush soon enough!

They are rather large. Mine weighs 85 pounds and stands about 2.5 feet high. The turds were gross and that is my motivation for a lush lawn as I do not ever want to pick up poop in bulk again. I'm not really into gardening that much cause my wife loves it and plants all the flowers. But i love mowing the lawn in the summer and want a nice backyard to upkeep again.

Phantom Pain

I hear ya on the small dogs...this is me walking tiny


http://www.hoax-slayer.com/images/huge-dog.jpg

youngster

Phantom Pain wrote:

I hear ya on the small dogs...this is me walking tiny


http://www.hoax-slayer.com/images/huge-dog.jpg

:shock:

Thorns2010

At my parents house we have a bunch of large oak trees all over the yard, so needless to say we've never even bothered trying to have a nice lush yard. Not enough sunlight gets through the leaves in the summer for it to be worth it.

covered in bliss

I put my foot down and I'm not doing all that work this year. Every spring for the last 10 years I have done what you did (on a HUGE lawn, I might add), and this year, I'm trying something new.

I'm letting the grass fill itself in. I've read that it can happen on its own and there are already signs of life here-and-there. fingers crossed!

The sick thing is-- we don't let the dogs pee in the yard until late fall, when we think the grass is dormant. They do their thing all winter and come spring, dead spots. Happens every year.

Someone mentioned sprinkler systems--If you catch your dog in the act (or feel like letting them pee) drown the area with water and it will be fine. You have to dilute the nitrogen as that's what burns the lawn. That's why the area outside the burn is a lush, dark green--a perfect concentration on the edges.

Good luck!

wash_

Oh the chore of de-pooing the garden. Luckily it's a chore that my folks deal with. We used to shovel them up with a trowel and throw them in the garden beds (fertilizing) but then relealised this was not the best idea when coming to weed the beds! Ewww!!

Now it's shovelling shit into a plastic bag for the dustbin.